Adelaide is the capital city of the Australian state of South Australia. It is a coastal city on the Southern Ocean and was founded in 1836.

Aboriginal settlement

Humans first arrived in Australia through Indonesia and New Guinea, either by paddling canoes across the Timor Sea or by crossing a land bridge across what is now Torres Strait, between New Guinea and Australia. Estimates of the date vary considerably: the best current guess is about 53,000 years ago, but much room for debate remains.

Evidence for human activity in South Australia dates back as far as 20,000 years ago with flint mining activity and rock art in the Koonalda Cave on the Nullarbor Plain. In addition wooden spears and tools were made in an area now covered in peat bog in the South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited long before the island was cut off by rising sea levels.

The Adelaide Plains were inhabited by the Kaurna people by the time European contact was made, their territory extending from what is now Cape Jervis to Port Broughton . "Yerta" (an area of land) were the responsibility of Kaurna adults who inherited the land and had an intimate knowledge of its resources and features. The Kaurna led a nomadic existence within the Yerta confines in large family groups of around 30. The area where the City of Adelaide now stands was called "Tandanya" which means "place of the Red Kangaroo". Kaurna numbers were greatly reduced by the spread of smallpox transported downstream by the Murray River. When European settlers arrived in 1836 the Kaurna in the Adelaide Plains area numbered around 300.

European interest

Matthew Flinders was given the brief to explore the southern coast of the Australian continent and to find an entrance to an inland sea if it existed. In 1802 he named Mount Lofty but recorded little of the area which is now Adelaide. Charles Sturt 28 years later exploring the Murray River was impressed with what he briefly saw, later writing:

"Hurried ....as my view of it was, my eye never fell on a country of more promising aspect, or more favourable position, than that which occupies the space between the lake (Lake Alexandrina) and the ranges of the St. Vincent Gulf, and, continuing northerly from Mount Barker stretches away, without any visible boundary".

Captain Collet Barker, sent by New South Wales Governor Darling conducted a more thorough survey of the area in 1831, as recommended by Sturt. After swimming the mouth of the Murray River, Barker was killed by natives who may have had contact with sealers and escaped convicts in the region. Despite this his more detailed survey led Sturt to conclude in his 1833 report:

"It would appear that a spot has at last been found upon the south coast of New Holland to which the colonists might venture with every prospect of success ....All who have ever landed upon the eastern shore of the St. Vincent's Gulf agree as to the richness of it's soil and the abundance of it's pastures."

Sturt's report impressed a group in Britain who wanted to wanted to create a colony based on free settlement rather than convict labour. Leading the group were Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Robert Gouger . In 1829 an imprisoned Wakefield wrote a series of letters about systematic colonisation which were published in a daily newspaper. He suggested that instead of granting free land to settlers as had happened in other colonies, land should be sold. The money could then fund the emigration of free settlers to the colony who were responsible and skilled workers rather than paupers and convicts.

Gouger promoted Wakefield's ideas and organised societies of interested people to carry out his scheme. In 1834 the South Australian Association persuaded British Parliament to pass the South Australian Colonisation act, succeeding where two previous organisations had failed. Wakefield wanted the colony's capital to be called Wellington after the "Iron Duke" but King William IV preferred it to be named after his consort, Queen Adelaide. The British government appointed a Board of Commissioners from people nominated by the association, with task of organising the new colony and meeting the condition of selling at least £35,00 worth of land. The province and its capital were named, planned, advertised and largely sold before a single settler had set foot in their new home.

Free passage was given to "suitable" labourers, generally men and women under 30 years of age who were healthy and of good character, who had to carry out a promise of working for wages until they have saved enough to buy land of their own and employ others, a process taking at least 3 or 4 years. Land sales were encouraged by granting one town acre in Adelaide for every 80 rural acres sold. The largest buyer of land was the South Australia Company headed by George Fife Angas , which bought enough land for South Australia to proceed and continued to influence the colony's future development. With the government's conditions met, King William IV signed the Letters Patents and the first settlers and officials set sail in early 1836.

European Settlement

In February 1836 the John Prarie and the Duke of York set sail for South Australia. They were followed in March by the Cygnet and Lady Mary Pelham, in April by the Emma, in May by the Rapid (carrying Colonel Light) and then by the Africaine (carrying Robert Gouger) and Tam o' Shanter. Most took supplies and settlers to Kangaroo Island on the present day site of Kingscote to await official decisions on the location and administration of the new colony. By the time the Duke of York had arrived at Kangaroo Island the Buffalo (carrying Governor John Hindmarsh ) was on its way.

Surveyor Colonel William Light rejected alternative locations for the new settlement such as Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln and the south coast. The site required a harbour, arable land, fresh water, ready internal and external communications, building materials and drainage. Most of the settlers were brought from Kangaroo Island to Holdfast Bay with Governor Hindmarsh arriving in December 1836. Light had to work quickly as the settlers were eager to take possession of the land they had purchased prior and grew impatient waiting. The Port River was sighted and deemed a suitable harbour, however there was no fresh water available nearby. The River Torrens was discovered and Light and his team set about planning the city's location and layout.

Light favoured a location along the Torrens valley between the coast and hills free of floodwaters. Governor Hindmarsh upon arrival initially approved, but changed his mind thinking that the site should instead be two miles closer to the harbour (an area unsuitable due to flooding). Other colonists thought Port Lincoln or Encounter Bay would be better sites. A public meeting of landholders was called on 10 February 1837, where a vote was held resulting in 218 to 127 in Light's favour, settling the issue for the meantime.

The survey was completed on 11 March 1837. Light's plan carefully fitted the topography: the Torrens Valley was kept as parklands and town acres were planned on higher land to the north and south. Adelaide was divided into two districts with North Adelaide comprising of 342 acre blocks and (South) Adelaide of 700 blocks, surrounded by 2,300 acres set aside as parklands for recreation and public functions. The grid pattern of Adelaide featured a central square (Victoria Square) and four smaller squares (Hindmarsh, Hurtle, Light and Whitmore), North Adelaide featured Wellington Square. Space for public buildings such as Government House, government stores, botanical gardens, hospital, cemetery and an aboriginal reserve were included within the parklands.

Development

The first sheep and other livestock in South Australia were brought in from Tasmania. Sheep were overlanded from New South Wales beginning in 1838, with the wool industry forming the basis of South Australia's economy for the first few years. Vast tracts of land were leased by "Squatters" until required for agriculture. Once the land was surveyed it was put up for sale and the Squatters had to buy their runs or move on. Most bought their land when it came up for sale, disadvantaging farmers who had a hard time finding good and unoccupied land.

Farms took longer to establish then sheep runs and were expensive to set up. Despite this by 1860 wheat farms ranged from Encounter Bay in the south to Clare in the north. In 1843 John Ridley invented a reaping machine which changed farming methods throughout South Australia and beyond to the nation at large. Exports of wheat and flour boomed.

Exploration for minerals began in 1837, with a lead and silver mine opening at Glen Osmond in 1841. The establishment of copper mines at Kapunda and Burra in the mid 1840's helped to lift the colony out of hard economic times.

South Australians were keen to establish trade links with Victoria and New South Wales, however overland transport was too slow. A £4,000 prize was offered in 1850 by the South Australia government for the first two people to navigate the River Murray in an iron steamboat as far as its junction with the Darling River. Gold discoveries in Victoria in 1851 heightened this need, with South Australian flour in demand on the goldfields. In 1853 William Randell of Mannum and Francis Cadell of Adelaide, unintentionally making the attempt at the same time, raced each other to Swan Hill with Francis Cadell coming in first.

Development of the city was uneven. Emily Clark, an immigrant arriving in 1850 remarked: "The city was much better and much worse than I expected. It was a surprise to find so many good shops and houses where we thought we should only find log huts and stores, but I was quite unprepared for the mud, and the wretched hovels close to well-built residences gave a most incongruous appearance to the streets. Indeed, Rundle Street consisted mostly of empty blocks..... Hindley street was the business centre as it was nearer the Port Road".

References

• Elizabeth Kwan Living in South Australia: A Social History Volume 1:From Before 1836 to 1914 (1987)
• Kathryn Gergett and Susan Marsden Adelaide: A brief History (1996)
• Colin Thiele The Adelaide Story (1982)
• Derek Whitelock Adelaide: From Colony to Jubilee (1985)